


surely you're my destiny

by cyberpunks (Delenaley)



Series: soul + mates [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, theyre like preteens so dont expect actual romance yet, tiny boys being dumb and excited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 23:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17273207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delenaley/pseuds/cyberpunks
Summary: In a world full of uncertainties and undefined length of patience common with soulmates, Kyungsoo gets his mark at the age of ten.





	surely you're my destiny

**Author's Note:**

> happy new year 2019! what better way to kick off 20biteen than with chansoo. i expected to write like, 800 words at most not nearly 3k. but i surprised myself by doing exactly that. which is, nice. esp considering i haven't actually finished anything in a longgg time. 
> 
> title taken from loona's heart attack, i hope u guys like this! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

_“the day we first met, inside my quiet heart_ _–_ _as if a new world has opened.”_

 _–_ **_Heart Attack, Chuu/LOONA._**

 

☆☆☆

 

In a world full of uncertainties and undefined length of patience common with soulmates, Kyungsoo gets his mark at the age of ten.

The young boy's soulmate tattoo appeared on his wrist on a cold evening in late November. He was eating dinner with his family when it happened. Kyungsoo had flailed in surprise at the sudden stinging sensation, sending his dinner utensils flying and his chair–with himself in it–falling backward at the force.

Amidst the chaos–the scrap of his father's chair, his mother's panicked shout, and his brother's poorly concealed giggle–Kyungsoo dared himself to look at the source of his pain, and found a dark red, vaguely fire-shaped tattoo stamped on the inside of his wrist, looking as if it had always been there.

At ten years old, Kyungsoo barely understands even the surface of what a soulmate is. His knowledge of it was limited to the universal concept of someone you marry in the future. This, was of course, what caused him to burst into tears at the sight of his soulmate tattoo. His parents, after double checking if he sustained any injuries due to his fall, were at lost as to what caused him to cry, considering Kyungsoo was a child who rarely cries. They have yet to notice the mark on their child's hand.

"I don't want to get married!" Kyungsoo wails, burying his head on the crook of his mother's neck. "I'm too young!"

His mother coos, rubbing her hands on his back. "What are you going on about, child?" she asks sweetly, still confused but not wanting to scare the trembling boy further.

"Tattoo!" he answers between sobs, "I'm too young for my–" he hiccups, "–for my tattoo!"

The realization dawns on his family a bit late.

 _"Ohmygod,"_ he hears his brother’s gasp as he finally gets it, their parents still catching up.

“What is it, Seungsoo?” their father asks.

"Soo got his soulmate tattoo!" he shouts, sounding more excited than he should be. He's fourteen and both his wrists were clean. Unlike his own, Kyungsoo thinks bitterly, still recovering from his sudden meltdown.

"Soo-yah," his mother calls, tender. There's a twinkle in her eyes Kyungsoo has never seen before that night. "Is that true?"

Kyungsoo nods and brings up his hand to show his parents the tattoo, finally looking up from his mother’s embrace. At the sight of his tattoo (and probably his tear-streaked face), his father muffles a giggle behind his palms, and his mother's grin is so bright it's blinding.

"Kyungsoo," they say in unison, sounding equally firm and amused, similar to the way they talk to him when something he does entertains them but they don't want to indulge in the behavior. "You're not getting married."

Kyungsoo breathes out in relief and wipes his tears with the back of his hands, then not so subtly cleans his snot with the collar of his shirt and ignores the disapproving glare from his mother. He just got through the biggest scare of his short life, his unsanitary actions can be justified.

The tattoo also stopped hurting right after he laid his eyes on it, but Kyungsoo still feels phantom sensations of the stinging on his wrist, leftovers from earlier. He shakes out his wrist to get rid of the feeling.

Perhaps his father's curiosity got the best of him, because then he asked, "Who told you that soulmate tattoos mean you're getting married?"

The little boy points at his older brother, who's currently trying to make an escape from the dining room. _"Snitch,"_ Seungsoo hisses before running off.

His parents’ accompanying laughter rings in his ears.

"Don't worry, Soo," his father assures, ruffling his hair. "You're not getting married, and you don't  _have_ to if you don't want. Having tattoos means meeting your soulmate is inevitable, but what you do with your soulmate is up to you. Fates may lay out options, but _you_ decide which path you will take. Besides, soulmate reveals are always worth celebrating."

Kyungsoo smiles for the first time that night since he discovered his tattoo.

 

☆☆☆

 

Kyungsoo doesn't actually meet his soulmate for a few more years. On his fourteenth birthday, to be precise.

To celebrate his fourteenth birthday and him passing his finals with flying colors, his parents decided to have dinner at an Italian restaurant that just opened across the town. Seungsoo was staying at their grandma’s over the break, so he couldn’t come, but he wouldn’t stop sending obnoxiously proud texts to Kyungsoo’s little flip phone. Kyungsoo was so happy, he wouldn’t stop grinning the entire drive to the restaurant.

Inside, they were greeted by a pretty girl who seems to be Seungsoo’s age. Kyungsoo wonders what a person that young doing working here instead of having fun with her friends, but keeps his mouth shut, he’ll just ask his parents later.

Her name tag reads _Yoora,_ and she led them to the table his parents had reserved. It was a four-people setup on the corner by the window. Kyungsoo hurries to the window seat, immediately admiring the droplets running down the glass, the remnants of the evening rain. His father chuckles lightly and pulls out the chair next to him.

After they had taken their seats, the young girl beckoned for someone to come over and went back to her previous place. Kyungsoo sees a lanky, red-haired boy approach their table. On his way to their table, the boy manages to bump into a few tables near and Kyungsoo winces; at his pain and at his clumsiness.

When the boy’s close enough, Kyungsoo notices that he looks exactly like the girl from before, only younger. Maybe the restaurant is family-run.

It’s only when they made eye contact that Kyungsoo felt it, the boy’s brown eyes widening as his mouth goes slack in the middle of asking for their orders. The heated, stinging sensation from a few years ago comes back and Kyungsoo involuntarily screams in surprise, he clutches his wrist with his free hand and drops his head to the surface of the table. Through his pain, he sees the other boy doing the same, doubling over and curling up on the floor beside Kyungsoo’s chair.

He heard his mother’s gasp and his father’s hand, heavy between the blades of his shoulder. He can hear footsteps, quick and heavy, approaching them. Was it for the boy? Kyungsoo’s eyes were shut, the pain didn’t seem like it would subside anytime soon. Kyungsoo hopes he’s okay, too.

“Kyungsoo, my boy,” his mother says gently, then asks him to give her his hand. His wrist hurts _so_ bad, but he managed to do what she asked. After a few seconds, he feels a palm covering his own, holding his hand so hard like the person’s life depended on it. Maybe it does, Kyungsoo thinks, realizes that the pain is slowly disappearing.

It takes an entire minute before the pain lessened enough for Kyungsoo to finally sit back up and open his eyes. When he did, the first thing he saw was the hand holding his own. It was the red-haired waiter.

Kyungsoo blinks. Once. Twice.

The boy’s sitting on a chair next to him, sweaty and panting, his free hand was holding a glass of water. He looks as exhausted as Kyungsoo feels and Kyungsoo has a vague inkling on what they just went through.

He looks around the restaurant and sees that it’s empty aside from his family and what seems to be the boy’s own. At this point, he doesn’t even want to know who saw what happened, he’s just glad the worst part was over.

“Soo-yah,” his father calls, shaking him out of thoughts. Kyungsoo feels his father’s hand on his shoulder, keeping him steady. “Do you know what just happened?”

“Yes.” His throat feels dry.

“That’s your soulmate.” His father nods at the red-haired boy, a small smile lingering on his lips. Kyungsoo turns to look at his mother and sees her mirroring her husband, eyes locked on Kyungsoo’s and the waiter’s entwined hands. Kyungsoo doesn’t blush, but he refrained from looking at the other’s face anyway. He stared at the abandoned menu instead, sighing.

Which of the Fates decided that family dinners were a good time to break life-changing news? Kyungsoo may be fourteen but he's ready to throw hands with whichever deity it is. There should be a law forbidding fate to interrupt celebratory family dinners.

 

☆☆☆

 

After a stream of apologies from each side of adults and a chorus of gasps and teasings later, he learned that the boy's name was Chanyeol. He was the son of the restaurant's owner–the adult who emerged from the kitchen as soon as she heard the two boys’ shouts. Chanyeol's the youngest child of two siblings, and the girl at the cashier was indeed his elder sister. Kyungsoo was right.

“You two should celebrate and become friends!” his mother suggested. In his periphery, Kyungsoo sees Chanyeol’s mother and sister probably doing the same, identical grins on their faces.

 _“Ma,”_ Kyungsoo whines. “I don’t know him!”

“Then get to know him!” his father says, laughing. “You two are gonna be bound anyway.”

Kyungsoo sighs but accepts the money his mother slipped into his palms anyway. He’s not one to reject money. His mother smiles wider as she fingers the crease between his eyebrows, smoothing the lines. “Go on, buy some ice cream or something. We’ll stay here, we need to talk with his family.”

“Okay,” Kyungsoo mumbles, half-hearted. Knowing him, it would be awkward. His father will probably call Seungsoo about this on their way home. How will Kyungsoo tell his best friend either? Baekhyun will react enthusiastically, but that's exactly what Kyungsoo is avoiding. _He_ doesn’t even know what to feel.

Kyungsoo feels a tap on his shoulder and turns to see Chanyeol smiling at him. Kyungsoo can’t bear looking him in the eye, especially not after the way he abruptly pulled his hand away from Chanyeol because he’s too embarrassed to keep holding the boy’s hand. The action merely earned him a chuckle but he still wanted to dissolve into thin air.

But alas. They’re soulmates.

"Hi! I'm Chanyeol!" he greets cheerfully, offering his hand to Kyungsoo. His _marked_ hand.

Kyungsoo stares at the mark with wide eyes, green and shaped like a _rock._ Why is his symbol a rock? Is it because he's stubborn and doesn't like sharing his stuff? Then again, why is Chanyeol's mark on his own wrist a red fire, the only thing red about Chanyeol was his hair. Was he a fire wielder? But Kyungsoo doesn't bear any gift.

Noticing Kyungsoo's lack of reaction, Chanyeol moves to retract his hand, smile falling. At that, Kyungsoo quickly realizes his mistake and reaches for Chanyeol's now half outstretched hand, probably shaking it a bit too stiffly.

"Nice to meet you, Chanyeol. I'm Kyungsoo," he introduces himself and leaves it at that. What does one even say to their soulmate at age fourteen? ‘ _Hey I know we just met but let's get married!’_ sounds inappropriate, and Kyungsoo has flashbacks of himself crying when he got his tattoo, serving as an embarrassing reminder.

On the other hand, Chanyeol's earlier excitement seems to have returned, not seeming to have a problem with Kyungsoo's awkwardness. His grin came back even brighter than before. Chanyeol's grin was the biggest Kyungsoo's ever seen on a person, but he's never seen someone with eyes nor ears as big as Chanyeol's either. It's.. weird, but not in a bad way.

Chanyeol's voice was scratchy, caused by the inevitable doings of puberty. He was already tall, a head taller than Kyungsoo despite being only a year older, but it seemed that his body wasn't ready to stop growing; long limbs navigated by skills and grace that is equivalent to a newborn fawn. Kyungsoo's surprised they even allowed him to wait tables with that degree of clumsiness.

“So,” Chanyeol starts. “My mom talked with your mom and she said that we should start being friends.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow.

“Why don’t we get out of here?”

Kyungsoo pockets the money his mother gave him and nods. “Lead the way.”

 

☆☆☆

 

“I didn’t think it’d be _that_ painful,” Chanyeol mutters, the stick from his ice cream between his teeth. Kyungsoo’s thrown out his own a few minutes before. “When my parents said ‘soulmate pain’, apparently they mean it.”

They’re sitting on a bench in a park nearby Viva Polo, the restaurant Chanyeol’s mother owns. Through the glass windows, Kyungsoo can see their parents still conversing, laughing freely.

“Didn’t it hurt when you got the tattoo, though?” Kyungsoo asks, looking down at his swinging legs. He’s too short for the bench.

“Yeah, it did.” Chanyeol nods. “But it didn’t hurt as much as when we met earlier.”

Kyungsoo hums, understanding.

Then, curious, he asks. “Do you have fire powers?”

Chanyeol shakes his head. “Nope,” then, more doubtful, “not _yet_ , maybe? My sister and father has them. Why do you want to know?”

Kyungsoo shows Chanyeol his mark. The reaction was an immediate _“Woah.”_ The elder stared at the tattoo almost reverently, tracing the red lines with his fingers, his touch so light it almost felt like he was only hovering. Kyungsoo grinned. He didn’t think his tattoo would evoke that kind of reaction from Chanyeol, but is glad that it did.

“Then does that mean you have rock–” Chanyeol stops and shows off his own tattoo. Kyungsoo didn’t say that he had seen it. “–um, earth abilities?”

Kyungsoo answers more surely than Chanyeol did. “I don’t. None of my family has it. Maybe your mark is just symbolism?”

Chanyeol pouts but doesn’t disagree. It’s cute, Kyungsoo thinks, that this boy is more excited about Kyungsoo possibly having powers than himself. Chanyeol is different, unlike anyone he’s seen before, yet so familiar.

On the surface, Chanyeol shared many qualities with Kyungsoo’s best friend, Baekhyun. Although his presence wasn’t as loud, not as commanding. Chanyeol’s in a perpetual state of unintentional destructiveness, but as far as Kyungsoo’s seen him, he carries himself like he’s _small._ Like a spiraling tornado that doesn’t understand how big it could grow. His big, bambi eyes and dopey grin only serves to make it more believable.

“Have you enrolled to any school around yet?” Kyungsoo asks, changing the topic. All these talks about powers are giving him a headache.

“I have,” Chanyeol says, smile reappearing. He never seems to stop smiling. “I'm starting the new semester of high school at that big school on main street.”

Kyungsoo’s eyes widened. That means they’re going to be in the same school complex. “I know that one well,” he says. “It’s joined to my middle school.”

Chanyeol tilts his head. “Oh? You go there?”

Kyungsoo nods.

“Can we meet?” He sounds so hopeful and excited that Kyungsoo couldn't bear to say no. Not that he was going to, anyway.

Kyungsoo sends him a small, reassuring smile, more to convince himself than Chanyeol. “If you want to,” he says. “both schools have the same hours so I can wait at the main park during first recess?”

“Uh,” Chanyeol scratches the back of his head. “I haven’t been–er, I don’t actually know the layout yet.”

Kyungsoo purses his lips. Waiting at the park was a safe option, the numbers of middle and high schoolers were even. He wouldn’t be out of place, just another 9th grader enjoying lunch out in the sun. To pick up Chanyeol by walking around inside the high school building would attract unnecessary attention, especially in his middle school uniform.

Sure, there are a lot of kids in his year who are friends (or more) with their seniors from the next building, but no one actually stepped foot inside one another’s buildings. The three school parks scattered all across the complex was common ground for meet-ups. The new semester starts in two weeks and Kyungsoo doesn’t fancy becoming talk of the faculty.

Then, he thought of something.

“Why don’t I show you around during this break?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen. “Is that allowed?”

“Of course,” Kyungsoo says quickly. “The complex is always open, even during breaks.”

“I would like that. Thank you, Soo.”

The nickname slipped out easily from him, as if Chanyeol had known him for years. It was a nickname that only his closest was given access to. But he realizes that he didn't mind. There’s something about Chanyeol that makes him feel at ease, so comfortable to be around despite his own awkwardness.

They talked some more, this time Kyungsoo doesn’t find it so hard to look him in the eye anymore. They talked, and occasionally giggled when they mutually found something funny. It was fun. They only stopped when their stomachs started grumbling and they raced each other back to the restaurant, demanding the dinner they completely forgot about earlier, claiming no ice cream in the world will be able to quench their hunger.

If hanging out with Chanyeol is this fun, Kyungsoo wouldn’t mind doing it again–and again and again. He can’t wait to tell Seungsoo, and maybe Baekhyun in the near future.

He has his soulmate now, but they both know that at this moment they're too young and too dumb to even be near what people consider romantic soulmates. If there's one thing Kyungsoo knows for sure, is that he's got himself a new friend, and that alone is something worth celebrating.

**Author's Note:**

> it's 11pm and i'm dying but ta-da! i'll come back to proofread (eventually), also i'm non native so i would highly appreciate feedback regarding grammatical errors and whatnot. 
> 
> i was rly nervous to post this so if you made it this far, thank you! i'm on [cc](http://curiouscat.me/layverse) and [twt!](http://twitter.com/layverse) ☆☆☆


End file.
